Friends may have ended 22 years ago, but the series is still on the record as one of the best sitcoms of all time. Between the relatable characters, storylines, and hilarious one-liners, Friends was truly the epitome of comedy in the ‘90s and early ‘00s. Which made it even more surprising when I learned there was a time the writers were worried the show wasn’t funny enough. This was bad news for the cast.
When it comes to a show like Friends, the jokes are the top priority. Friends filmed live in front of a studio audience, and when jokes fell flat, it could take the energy out of the room. This meant the writers and the cast really had to to nail every joke, and every joke needed to be a notch above.
Even prior to this latest interview, I would have wagered a guess this meant rewrites happened on the regular. Lisa Kudrow seemingly confirmed this redo process, opening up about her experience via the Table Manners podcast, which is hosted by singer Jessie Ware and her mom, Lennie. Kudrow confirmed that they did retakes, sometimes on the fly and in front of the audience, and they also did rewrites thanks to one big concern:
It might not be funny enough, right? Or let’s see if we can improve on it. Not us. The writers.
Rewrites are a given for any project, no matter what, but it is crazy to hear the writers of Friends were worried the show wasn’t funny enough. Or at least, some of the scripts weren’t funny enough. The revisions and retakes led to filming longer days than most other sitcoms on the air at the time. Kudrow admitted that on a normal show day, filming would take twice as long as a typical TV series. From what she said, it sounds like it was a slog.
Normally, a half-hour show took around two, two and a half hours, maybe three to shoot. Ours was six or more hours.
Network TV is infamous for long shoot days, anyway, but given the timelines Lisa Kudrow laid out, it's definitely a little insane to think about what the Friends cast went through. And not just them! Kudrow was asked about the long hours and she had to "guess" everyone got overtime. At least the show could seemingly afford it (though it's easy to see how network TV is past the lobster and champagne days now.)
I guess everyone got overtime. The show was doing well. They could afford it, the studio.
That being said, the rewrites may have been a pain for the cast, but I have to assume they helped. Friends still holds up and is iconic to this day. I don't know that is true for those other shows that only filmed for a couple of hours.
Meanwhile, even if the writers didn’t think the show was funny enough at times, Courteney Cox had a feeling Friends would be a success. We know this because Sex and the City star Kristin Davis previously revealed she and Cox were once in the same yoga class, and Cox told her she wanted to buy a Porsche because she just did a pilot that she was bullish on. That pilot was Friends, and, well, the rest is history. Even though NBC nearly canceled Friends before it even aired, I’m really happy Cox was right.
One thing I am curious about? I wish I knew some specific moments that were rewritten, and I'd be curious what the experience was like as a whole for anyone in that studio audience across Friends' 10 seasons. The process may have been long, but it definitely worked, because the series is as funny as ever. Fans can still watch Friends with an HBO Max subscription and see what jokes hold up.
